Stop the Live Elephant Trade
IFAW has improved the welfare conditions for eight Asian elephants coming to the Taronga and Melbourne zoos. IFAW, working with RSPCA Australia and Humane Society International, launched an appeal against the Australian Government against the importation of eight Asian elephants from Thailand to Australian zoos.
While our primary position was for the
elephants to stay in Thailand,
the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has ruled
that the elephants can
come to Australia, but only if a number of important
welfare conditions
are improved.
There were three grounds for the
appeal:
1. The import will be detrimental to the survival
and
recovery of the Asian elephant - there is no conservation
benefit.
2. Zoos cannot meet the animal welfare needs of
elephants.
3. Zoos cannot meet the goals and objectives of
conservation breeding.
There is strong evidence that
elephants
suffer in zoos and the zoos' original plan did not address
threats to this
endangered species.
Scientific research and expert
testimony has indicated that despite
the best efforts by zoos to upgrade their
facilities, the complex
biological and behavioural needs of elephants cannot be
met in a zoo
environment.
In the wild, female elephants are highly
social, living in large, close-knit and stable family groups—so stable
that
females will remain with their natal herd throughout their entire
lifetime.
Weaning of elephant calves occurs over a long period and is
not complete until
the birth of a new calf—usually three to six
years.
Male calves will leave the
herd at around 10–15 years of
age and live a largely solitary
life.
Elephants are
also highly migratory with home ranges
between 10–800 km² having been
recorded. As a result these animals require
large areas of
land—something that is impossible to replicate in a zoo
environment
Most urban zoo elephant enclosures,
including
those in Australasia, are smaller than an average
football
field.
The decision by Detroit Zoo to stop
exhibiting elephants for
ethical reasons demonstrates that more and
more zoos are realising the needs of
these animals cannot be met in
captivity.
The Director of Detroit
Zoo has been quoted as
saying, "for us there is a really big question about
whether elephants
should be in captivity at all."
Legal Challenge Latest
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal placed a number of conditions on the permits to import eight elephants from Thailand to Taronga and Melbourne zoos. The conditions include:
Closed circuit TV monitoring of the elephants in the barns and throughout
the enclosure 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The zoos must provide reports on the elephants to the Department of
Environment and Heritage.
If the elephants cannot be socialised or exercised regularly, Taronga Zoo
must put contingency plans in place. If Taronga Zoo is unable to
address any
issues that arise the elephants must be moved to Western
Plains Zoo in
Dubbo.
Earth mounds must be built at the Taronga Zoo enclosure for the elephants to lie on and mud wallows increased in size and number.
Taronga Zoo must change the flooring in two of their four elephant stalls
with a view to extending it to other stalls.
A range of natural bedding materials must be trialled over 12 months in
the elephant barns to monitor which the elephants prefer.
The zoos must comply at all times with the Zoo Association Guidelines for
captive elephants, which were previously voluntary.
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The emotional bonds elephants establish with their herds cannot be matched in Australian zoos.
